The Face in the Mirror
by synomous01
Summary: So many questions, not enough answers. Introspective moment for Dutch. Takes place sometime between S2x06 - S2x08. Takes place sometime between S2x06 - S2x08.


"It's you," breathed out Dutch as she stared at her doppelganger in front of her. Was this real or was this some sort of nightmare? It felt unsettling real, but she had no idea where she was before, or why she was standing in wide long corridor of some abandoned facility. Had something happened, was she unconscious somewhere, and now somehow linked to this woman?

Yet seeing Aleena in front of her, it didn't matter to Dutch how she got here. She just wanted answers. She wanted to know what the hells was going on. Who was Aleena. Was Dutch _her_? Was she a clone of Aleena? Or was she going to become her? Khlyen had wiped all memories of Aleena from the red17 green liquid. He was protecting her... yet he was hunting her. Which was it? And if it was to protect her, why did the red box have Dutch on a mission to kill the woman who looked like her. What exactly was the end game to all this?

"Who are you," Dutch demanded at the woman. Aleena regarded her with a slight tilt of her head and smiled. That smile, Dutch knew well. It was the exact same smile she had right before she killed, the satisfied look she gave to her prey, knowing it was trapped and about to meet its end. Yet even in the dim lighting, Dutch could see no weapons on the woman. Dressed in a tight leather uniform, she had a holster around her waist, but no weapon was visible.

"I'm not going to ask nicely again," she threatened, taking a step forward, her gun charged and steady in her hand.

"Who am I?" said the doppelganger. "You should ask yourself that. Who are _you_ , Yalena of House Yardeen?"

Dutch refused to let the woman rattle her. "Are you Aleena? Who is Khlyen to you? To us? Is he our father? Is he mine? Are you... are you me? Answer me!"

The woman's smile only grew wider at Dutch's agitated state.

"Yalena, you have not learned all that Khlyen has taught you, has he?" As she spoke, she moved closer, away from the darkness of the corridors. Dutch started to move to a defensive position, but suddenly found she couldn't. It was as if she was paralyzed to the spot.

There was a glint in Aleena's eyes and Dutch knew she had done something to her. What, she didn't know, but Dutch fought it with every of her being.

"No, stay where you are," said Aleena slowly as she circled Dutch. Like Seyah Kendra, she touched Dutch's face with such gentleness, but unlike her, the fingers that pressed onto her skin was cold like ice. Dutch wanted to shrivel away from it, but she couldn't. She couldn't even speak.

And as if reading her mind, Aleena smiled and said, "You have something to say?"

Like a spell was broken, Dutch found her voice again. It unsettled her greatly, but she forced the discomfort aside and said through clenched teeth, "You haven't answered my questions."

"I will. It will be revealed in all good time. But you may not like the answer, Yalena. The truth will change you. You will wish you did not know. You will lose everyone you love. You will lose yourself."

"I won't change. Never. I have my team."

"When I come for you, Yalena, they will be the first that will disappear. The time is coming... perhaps sooner is better?" she said after a brief pause.

"Don't you dare," snapped Dutch at her doppelganger.

"The first that will disappear will be D'Avin. You care about him, don't you Yela," said Aleena. "He's strong, handsome...you feel safe with him, that he could protect you."

"Don't you touch him," snapped Dutch. She wanted to fight Aleena, but still, she could not move. She could only watch this woman taunt her. Threaten to harm the ones she held closest to her.

"And Alvis, the Scarback. Was he _nice_ , Yalena? Did it feel good lay with someone who has had as much pain as you have? That he could see past it, you think you can latch onto him too?"

Dutch gave her a deathly glare but at the same time was shaken by how much Aleena knew about what had happened in her privacy, "How did you know.."

"I know many things. I also know of how much Johnny means to you. Why so silent, Yela?" She twisted a strand of Dutch's hair lightly, teasingly.

Seeing Dutch's burning gaze only made her doppelganger's grin grow wider.

"You care about him so much you'd do anything for him. Is it because he feels, Yela? Because he actually has a heart while you pretend to have one?"

The words struck a chord in Dutch. Sabine said that to her not too long ago.

"Shut the hell up. You know nothing about me or about them."

As if Aleena hadn't heard, she continued, "What would you do if I took him first? He'd be easy to lure, Yela. He'd do anything for _you_. Poor abandoned puppy that stayed so loyally by your side. Puppies follow their Masters around so well... if say you were in danger... Would Johnny rush head first and rescue you? Would he die for you?" She brushed her cold long fingers against the side of Dutch's face again. "I think he would. He would die for you."

"Yela, Yela, I see it in your eyes. You'd die inside, wouldn't you if he was gone? You'd be what you feared you would become all those years ago had you not stumbled onto Johnny Jacobis. He's your lifeline isn't he? Your anchor to what little humanity you have left. He's the only thing that's keeping you ... from being the true you." Aleena didn't wait for Dutch to respond, instead she came up close to the side of Dutch's head and whispered, "I guess I'll just have to move things along for you, then. Time is ticking, Yela. The war is almost upon us. You will need to be strong when I come for you." And she pulled back and smiled at her, watching all the while Dutch's expression.

"If you think you can lay a finger on Johnny or anyone on my team -"

"I don't _think_ , Yela," she snapped, her eyes were like pools of black staring back at Dutch, "I will make things happen the way I want them to be." She paused and then the cool smile returned to her face, "I had a very good teacher."

The way she spoke _,_ thought Dutch, was almost like Khlyen. How he would say things. He _did_ just do things. If someone displeased him, he would kill him without even blinking. He had threaten to hurt Johnny when he resurfaced with a red box for her. And now this woman...this woman Aleena was going to try to do the same as Khlyen had before. Threaten her team.

"I will see you soon, Yela. I promise you that."

Aleena moved away from Dutch and back to the dark corridors where she had first arrived. All the while she hummed a melodic tune that Dutch was very familiar with; the song that Khlyen had taught her as a child.

After some distance was placed between Aleena and Dutch, suddenly Dutch felt the paralysis that held her place dissipate. As fast as she could, she raced after the doppelganger but found herself instead enveloped in the pitch black darkness.

Dutch snapped her eyes open. Cold sweat covered her body. _Where am I?_ Was her first thought.

"Lucy?"

"Yes Dutch." Answered the A.I.

She was onboard Lucy. And she was in her room, in her bed. There was no Aleena. No immediate threat. But it had felt so real. So very real. On reflex she touched the side of her face... it was cool to the touch, colder than the rest of her. Could it have been real? A psychic link? A attempt in possession?

Dutch pushed herself off her bed and walked towards the long mirror at the side of her quarters. No Aleena. This was _her_. It was a nightmare, it had to be.

"Lucy, where is D'Avin and Johnny?"

"They are onboard the ship, Dutch." replied Lucy in a crisp voice.

"Alvis Akari?"

"He is currently on Leith."

They were safe. Thank the Roots. Once upon a time, she had feared Khlyen finding her again and harming those she loved. But now it was someone else. Someone who looked like the face she now saw in the mirror.

"You won't win, Aleena. Whoever you are, I am _not_ you. And I will not let you lay a hand on anyone on my team," she said softly staring at her own face, and touching still the cold skin on the side of her face. After a moment, Dutch decided she wasn't going to let this shake her. It was a nightmare. Nothing more. Psychic connections, it required the green liquid. She was not a level six. And she was not D'Avin either, who apparently dubbed himself a wizard that could control the green liquid and connect to those who had it in them. _A wizard that can't control his powers,_ thought Dutch ruefully remembering the level six whose head had exploded due to D'Avin's new gift.

With one last glance at the mirror, Dutch made her way out of her quarters. It was time to find some real answers and not live in fear and nightmares. If she had to face Aleena, then she had to be ready, not only to fight her, but to do whatever it took to protect her team. Aleena wasn't going to win this. Dutch would make sure of it.

 **End.**


End file.
